NASA | GSFC | 2017 Dec 06
[img3="Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center"]https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/file ... raphic.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]A science team in Antarctica is preparing to loft a balloon-borne instrument to collect information on cosmic rays, high-energy particles from beyond the solar system that enter Earth's atmosphere every moment of every day. The instrument, called the Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder (SuperTIGER), is designed to study rare heavy nuclei, which hold clues about where and how cosmic rays attain speeds up to nearly the speed of light.
The launch is expected by Dec. 10, weather permitting. ...
The most common cosmic ray particles are protons or hydrogen nuclei, making up roughly 90 percent, followed by helium nuclei (8 percent) and electrons (1 percent). The remainder contains the nuclei of other elements, with dwindling numbers of heavy nuclei as their mass rises. With SuperTIGER, researchers are looking for the rarest of the rare -- so-called ultra-heavy cosmic ray nuclei beyond iron, from cobalt to barium. ...
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